


Inhale

by perlaret



Category: Star Wars (Marvel Comics), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: (of a sort), Canon Compliant, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Heists
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-08-29 07:44:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16739929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perlaret/pseuds/perlaret
Summary: Pash has had a lot of close calls. Good thing she knows how to hold her breath.





	Inhale

**Author's Note:**

  * For [saiditallbefore](https://archiveofourown.org/users/saiditallbefore/gifts).



Certification requirements on Skorii-Lei for underwater engineers necessitated the ability in oxygen-reliant species to hold one’s breath for ten standard minutes. This was the minimum, to ensure (or at least improve the chance of) survival in case of mechanical failure.

It happened to Pash once, near the end of a shift, when a new air filtration pump she had just installed in her scuba helmet turned out to be faulty. She had noticed the water starting to bubble through the back of the helmet, and a glance upward confirmed the worst – precious oxygen escaping from the tanks on her back, bubbles careening toward the water surface in a swiftly moving chain. In an ideal galaxy, she would have been able to simply take a breath and launch herself upward as well, but she'd been mid-solder on one of the major plant pipelines. Back then she'd been a little less disaffected, a little more determined to see things through and expect the best outcome all at once.

Pash still remembered that first breath, when she'd finally reached the surface more than thirteen minutes later.

 

* * *

 

"This is a terrible idea."

"It's a little too late for second thoughts at this point," Leia said, without even a solitary backwards glance. Satisfied the next hallway was clear, she beckoned Pash along, and strode forward at a quick clip. Her voice was clear despite the embroidered veil that concealed the lower half of her face. "Relax, R2 has the video feeds cleared, and the others should be in position. We'll be in and out."

Pash rolled her eyes and kept pace, deciding against the all-too-tempting thought of ripping off the spavat she’d been wrangled into and strangling the princess. It would be kind of pointless, given all the effort she’d once spent trying to save Leia’s life. But still. Just because she was dealing with a force of nature in human form didn't mean she had to always love the results.

“I’ve been in your Rebellion long enough now to know that’s never how it works.”

The R-word spoken aloud in hostile terrain, apparently, was enough to finally garner one of Leia’s familiarly withering looks.

“And you also know that obtaining this artifact is necessary if we are going to get the Herodis faction to stop playing games and join the Alliance,” she said.

“And,” Pash added pointedly, “if we want them to give us back the X-Wings they stole.”

Leia’s forehead wrinkled in annoyance. “That too.”

Pash sighed, and looked around, gathering her bearings. The regional governor’s palace was a far cry from the way things looked back home. Too many clean lines, vaulted ceilings, and intricate decorations. The rooms she’d lived in before stumbling across Leia would fit into a fresher here, probably. Bruce would stand out like a sore thumb, had he gotten his way and come along too. “Can we keep moving?” she asked, realizing they’d stopped.

“Come on,” Leia said, immediately springing back into motion. She prodded at the holo device at her wrist, designed to look like nothing more than a gaudy bracelet, bringing up the layout of the palace. “We’re almost there.”

 

* * *

 

Almost there wasn't enough, because of course their luck refused to hold.

“This is it,” Leia said. “Can you get it open?”

Pash decided to ignore that and got to work instead, popping open the concealed panel – right where it was supposed to be – and finessing the wiring inside. She was no thief but she certainly knew her way around electrical systems. Joining the Rebellion had been a breath of fresh air on that front. After years of manual labor, both mindless and exhausting, Pash was finally back to doing what she loved. Turned out the weightless float of open space was as comfortable to her as the depths of seawater, even if the physics of it had taken some adjusting to – but even that had been an enjoyable challenge. It was solid work, unlike this harebrained scheme. Leia tapped her foot impatiently.

Pash gave the offending appendage a pointed look, then raised her gaze to Leia's eyes. “Would you prefer I bashed it in?”

Leia snorted, but stilled. “Save the bashing for later if we need it. Wouldn’t want to tire you out, and we still have to get back out of here too.”

“Noted.” The door slid open, and Pash quickly popped the concealing panel back over her handiwork.

The governor’s private collection was just as it was rumored to be: extensive and grandiose. Pash let out a low whistle, surveying the various pedestals and displays that littered the wide room, a testament to the Empire’s reach, not to mention its greed. She could only imagine how most of it had been obtained; the thought alone struck bitterness in her like a match. “How many cultures has this guy stolen from?”

“More than we have time to help today,” Leia said, her eyes grave as she lingered before a gold-cast chest. She was still, more so than she'd been all night. Only on second glance did Pash recognize the design as Alderaanian. She looked at Leia again, slender and quiet, and was all too conscious of the sudden gravity she radiated, and of the sadness. Pash knew Leia didn't need height and muscles to carry the weight she bore, but wished – as she'd often come to lately, with more and more frequency – that she could take some of it on for her regardless. Her chest ached with the feeling.

Before Pash could say anything, Leia shook herself as if dragging herself from a trace. She turned on her heel and the momentary tension fell away, replaced with the memory they were here for a cause. Pash averted her own eyes, searching for the artifact they needed.

“Over here,” Leia called, at long last.

The Haradi Emblem was displayed arrogantly, on a pedestal in the open air. It was more gaudy than pretty, a great hulking piece of metal studded with multicolored jewels and a twisting, snakelike design around the circumference of its face. Pash knew, from the mission details, that it sat upon a weighted system, one that, if disturbed, would immediately send the room into lockdown... and drain it of oxygen. 

Trust was the name of the game, but relief still washed through Pash when the Haradi Emblem was taken from its place without subsequent alarm. It looked large and unwieldy in Leia's hand as she used the other to pull the heavy, opaque veil away from her face. Beneath it, about her neck, was a duplicate – a cheap copy they'd rustled up from an enterprising, and politically sympathetic, vendor in town. “Think they'll notice the difference?” Leia whispered triumphantly, making the swap.

They were nearly back to the door when suddenly there were voices from the other side. Leia’s eyes went wide, and Pash realized she had two choices. So she acted the way she knew best to as the door began to reopen – with her gut impulse.

Impulse was the only explanation for it, really.

Pash pushed Leia against the wall, where her own body would conceal the smaller woman, and kissed her hard, curling her palms over Leia’s cheeks. Her face was soft, even under the calluses on Pash's fingertips; her hair was even softer. The Emblem was a solid, unforgettable weight pressed between them. Leia made a soft sound of surprise, but went with it, quickly transferring her hand first over the curve of Pash’s shoulder, then the back of her neck. Her touch was firm, a counterpoint to the warm pliancy of her mouth.

It made Pash see stars against the back of her eyes, giving her a rush like that first breath of cool air after long deprivation, buoying her like the weightlessness of water. Everything clicked into place, suddenly, from their first meeting until now. Pash didn't know how she'd gone so long without realizing Leia had brought more than just hope and purpose back into her life.

“Why is this door–? You, who’s there!?”

Pash wrenched away as the guards burst in, and Leia gasped aloud – clearly fake but still convincing – and scrambled to reorient her veil. Their eyes met briefly, but there was no time to linger in the moment. Once sure that the embroidered cloth was fixed over Leia's too-recognizable face, Pash turned and faced the suspicious guards and their blasters, smoothing the front of her clothes.

“Sorry, sorry! Uh, we’re party guests. We were just looking for somewhere to... you know.”

“This area is off limits. How did you get in here?”

Pash arranged her face into something puzzled. “Through the door.”

"The door should be locked," the guard pressed. Pash shrugged, then folded her arms and stared him down.

"Well it wasn't. So do you mind lowering that?"

Leia spoke up as the second guard peered about at the displays, searching for anything amiss, her voice affecting a breath, nervous quality Pash had definitely never heard out of her before. “Can we go back? This is so embarrassing.”

The guards exchanged a long, indecipherable look. Pash felt her hands curling into fists; she imagined Leia was already fingering the blaster she no doubt had concealed somewhere under the layers of her billowy dress, ready for the moment everything went to shit.

“...Go directly back the the party. No more rendezvousing,” the first guard finally decided, after a too long silence.

It took a great deal of effort not let her shock show all over her face. Pash quickly grabbed Leia’s hand, heart pounding. “Got it,” she said, and pulled them both decisively from the room and into the hall.

"Don't look back," Leia whispered, close at her side.

"Wasn't thinking about it," Pash said.

From the corner of her eye, she could tell Leia was looking at her. "That was quick thinking back there."

Pash felt her face warm, an annoying distraction from the fact that they were trying to escape, and their theft could be discovered at any moment. 

"You told me to skip the bashing," she said dryly, spotting their planned exit, a pair of double doors that led into the gardens. From there they could easily turn and head back to the party, or else go the other way, and slip off to where their ship and Leia's friends awaited them.

"Well," Leia said, squeezing her hand ever so slightly. "We'll have to find some other way to tire you out later."

Pash let that wash over her as they broke free of the palace, and took a lungful of clean, fresh air. The path out was free and clear, and the night was full of promise.

 


End file.
